Upping the Ante

Friday 15th June marked exactly six weeks since Abbey received my fraud claim form. Happy Anniversary.

On Thursday, I'd found out about someone who'd had a very similar experience, and was so hacked off he'd started a website about it. I don't know if anything's been resolved because it's not been updated for a couple of weeks, but still, he was talking about a fraud claim taking twelve weeks so far. It scared me. I decided that I needed to be more forceful.

The plan was to wait until the post had been on Friday (always the optimist) then telephone the Complaints Department, and demand that they find out what was going on with my fraud claim, and let me know. I would tell them again about how it would ruin my trip at the end of the month, and if I didn't have the money for that, I'd contact the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Office of Fair Trading, Watchdog and a nice lady from the Guardian called Anna Tims - and I'd throw in a comment about legal action for good measure.

Abbey however are determined to break the spirit of the poor sods who dare to complain.

I called around 9:30am and was on hold for about 15 minutes before I got through. The lady announced herself as they usually do, and I launched into my story, with liberally added comments about legal action and the press. At the end of it, I felt shaky again. I was on the attack, and utterly scared of losing. There was a pause.

"Hello?"

"Hello!" I answered her, expecting something else. Nothing came, aside from more "hello"s. "Can you hear me?" I asked. She obviously couldn't. Wearily, I hung up.

I tried again. This time, after being on hold another 15 minutes, I said as soon as I'd got through - "hello, I just want to make sure you can hear me before I start - this is the second attempt to call you today, the first time I spent twenty minutes on the phone only for the other person not to even hear me." She assured me she could hear me. Again, I started to tell the whole sorry story, with added veiled threats. I used phrases like "utterly disgusting" and "frankly shambolic". She listened, got my details, then said, "I just need to put you on hold while I bring myself up to date with your file." I thanked her, and waited. And waited.

Ten minutes later I was still listening to that irritatingly chirpy music, and thinking to myself "oh well, the file is big and rather complex..."

Then, the line went dead.

I almost flung the phone - instead I cried a bit. I knew I had to try again. I did, and eventually got through. She could hear me, and I angrily explained what had happened that morning, saying "I do not want you to put me on hold under any circumstances, as there is obviously some kind of fault with the telephone system." I was in no mood to be nice or make allowances. Sod it. This was the last straw. I told her the problem, and said something like "six weeks is more than enough time for Abbey to get this money refunded to me. "

She started to explain that the Card Fraud department was very busy. I said that wasn't good enough, and that I'd been told they were busy on April 30th - surely Abbey could have done something about it? She then said that since Abbey had been bought out recently, a lot of departments were relocating and there were a lot of changes happening. The Card Fraud department was moving part of its operation to Madrid, and she said there were "bound to be teething problems". This was fresh information, but still I was not happy. Frankly, it is not my concern that a department is moving. My concern is with the £200 that was taken fradulently from my account. I suggested that these "teething problems" were causing customers to suffer, and stressed again about my going away. "I've been planning this for seven months" I told her. "If I don't get this money back, the trip is cancelled and everything will be utterly ruined." I was close to tears.

She told me that she would send an urgent email to the Card Fraud department (this must be the third time the Complaints Dept have done this). She said she would stress about the holiday, and said something about me losing a deposit and the holiday being cancelled. I'd never mentioned any deposit, but I went along with it. I couldn't be bothered to argue at that point. She said that there was no point in her trying to get through to them on the phone, and that they use the same number as customers do, so she'd just be on hold or get the engaged tone if she tried. She told me that they would contact me directly, but couldn't give me even an idea of when that would be. She said if she heard anything in the meantime, she would telephone me.

That was it. Most of the morning spent on the phone again, only to get the same old crap. Later that afternoon, I had the idea of doing this blog. The plan is to forward it to anyone who will listen. Abbey have cost me money and caused untold stress, and I have had enough.